This is fantastic news as the flight market to Hawaii can be quite expensive. The introduction of a low cost airline like Southwest will surely increase competition and drive prices down. It also means another option to redeem points to Hawaii–as well all know award space can be sparse to the islands.

Not to mention this is very exciting for those of you who have/are planning to have a Companion Pass next year!

Where Will Southwest Fly From?

We don’t know for sure, but at one point that video embedded above one of the Southwest guys mentions flights from multiple cities in California on the horizon. Here are current Southwest destinations in California:

I’d wager Southwest ends up flying to Hawaii from their focus cities of Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego, and Sacramento or some combination of them.

The same guy that mentions flights from California to Hawaii also mentions that Hawaii will be served by their new Boeing 737 Max 8 planes.

Companion Pass for 2018 and 2019

The Companion Pass allows you to designate a companion who flies for just the taxes on every Southwest flight you fly. It’s easily one of the best deals in travel if you fly often domestically.

You can earn it by either…

flying 100 paid segments

accumulating 110,000 Rapid Rewards within a calendar year, which you could do by spending a ton of money on one Southwest Card, flying a bunch of paid flights, or opening and meeting the minimum spending requirements on two Southwest Credit Cards + some extra spending/shopping portal bonus earning

The Companion Pass is good for the calendar year (January 1 to December 31) in which you earn the qualifying points as well as the following year, so timing when you earn it is wise if you want to fully maximize its potential value. To get two full years of Companion Pass benefits, you’ll want to meet the point requirement in the beginning of the calendar year so your companion can fly free for all of that year as well as the following.

Southwest is currently offering a 60,000 point sign up bonus on it’s Premier Business credit card. The personal cards bonuses recently dropped to 40k each. If you have the spending capability and haven’t opened a bunch of cards recently (Chase 5/24 rule applies, business card has a $3k minimum spend, the personal cards have $2k minimum spends each) then you could open all three and that would suffice for the Companion Pass. Just make sure you left 30 days between the application for the second and third card as Chase is known for only approving people for two cards in a 30 day period.

You could also open one business and one personal card, earn 105,000 Rapid Rewards from a 60k bonus + 40k bonus + 5k in non-bonused spending meeting the requirement, and then spend another $5,000 on one or collectively both of those cards.

Whatever you do, if you want to earn a Companion Pass for all of 2018 and 2019, make sure you are careful about when you complete your minimum spending requirements as you want your points to post in 2018 and not 2017 (or else you’d get the Companion Pass for a few days in 2017 and 2018–not ideal). Read Timing the Southwest Cards for Companion Pass in 2018 & 2019 for more details about how/when points post and planning your strategy.

Bottom Line

New flights, more competition, and more award space is always welcome, especially on expensive routes. A flight from California to Hawaii, specifically Los Angeles to Honolulu for example, is around 5 hours and 45 minutes. While in an ideal world we’d all love to fly Business Class or higher around the world all the time, the reality is that there often isn’t premium cabin award space available to the Hawaiian islands–especially in peak travel seasons. 5 hour to 6 hours in Southwest economy is a viable option, particularly when the price tag is appealing.

We’ll be sure to update you when routes are finalized next year.

Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.

Sarah Page Maxwell became a miles nerd after moving her base to Buenos Aires and beginning a transient lifestyle that would be otherwise too expensive without miles and points. In addition to travel, her other passions include hot sauce, yoga, and her boston terrier Omar.

CDKing, what is the promo that you mentioned “With the new promo in California where CP is almost given away for free”?

Does anyone know how Chase’s 24-month rule on promo bonus work? I read that one has to wait 24 months after earning a promo bonus before qualified to earn it again. If I earned my last promo bonus rewards in Feb. 2016 (2 months after opening the account) and want to earn it again, do I have to wait until Feb. 2018 before I can apply for a new account or can I open a new account well before but just don’t spend more than $3000 until after Feb 2018?

I opened a Chase Hyatt on June 28, 2017 and and a Chase Freedom on Sept 29, 2017.
When would I be able to apply for a Southwest card or cards to snag a companion pass? Will
Chase being running the 60,000 point promotional anytime soon? Also can I apply for a business even if I am not a business owner? Thank you. Donna G.

[…] a week ago Southwest announced that, pending government approval, the airline will start flying to Hawaii in 2018. Exact routes and schedules are yet to be known, but one of the announcers did say flights to […]

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Content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers. These responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered. For more information or to see the MileValue Privacy Policy, click here.

Sarah Page Maxwell is a miles aficionado and avid traveler, born in Virginia, raised in North Carolina, and currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has earned and redeemed millions of miles for herself and others. Traveling for free, the 29-year-old has been to 20+ countries, making sure to catch as many sunsets in each that she can.

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Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.

Many of the credit card offers that appear on this site are from credit card companies from which MileValue.com receives compensation if you are approved. Compensation impacts placement of cards on the credit card page and banner placement, but does not on the articles posted on MileValue.com. This site does not include all credit card offers available in the marketplace.